High achievers' kids may go astray

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New Delhi: If we were to take a psychological angle to the Rahul Mahajan case, the question we could ask is, do chidren of high-achieving parents inevitably develop psychological problems?

Emperor Jehangir was perhaps the most famous dysfunctional son. Unable to stand up to his mighty father Akbar, he became an opium addict and a drunkard.

Rahul Mahajan is no emperor's son but is the lastest in a list of children of famous fathers who have gone astray.

Says VIMHANS' Dr Jitendra Nagpal, "The next generation seems to get almost everything early in life, very easily and at an affordable price. This is just the right paraphernalia for high risk behaviour."

Another politician's miscreant son in the spotlight is Manu Sharma - son of former Haryana minster Vinod Sharma and prime accused in the Jessica Lall murder case.

Turn your sights to Bollywood and theres is Fardeen Khan, son of Feroze Khan, who has made headlines not so much for his films as for his high profile marriage and his doping episodes.

Then there is Puru Raj Kumar, son of the legendary film actor Raj Kumar, who allegedly maimed and killed some pavement dwellers in Mumbai because he was driving when he was drunk.

And in the corporate world there is Abhishek Kasliwal, son of S Kumar's promoter Ambuj Kasliwal who was recently implicated for raping a 52-year-old-woman.

Says career counsellor, Pravin Malhotra, "These kind of children think they can get away with everything and to a very large extent they do. I have seen parents push children through school and then get them admission into colleges on the basis of false certificates. So children see this happening in their homes day after day and thus the scant respect for law."

However, not all children of famous parents end up as drifters. Some do take their family name to greater heights.

Take for example Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a much greater son of his eminent father.

The question is are famous parents taking time out to add to the value system of their children? Or is their busy lifestyle only reinforcing the belief that everything goes?